Lucky

Thinking of some of my angels while driving through Rainbow, CA

Crafts vs. "Real" Art...

I had never considered the art of papercrafting to be a very deep subject, until I started developing my Scrapology class series... As I considered the topics I felt passionate about covering; the thought process involved in the creation of those beautiful stories on paper, and the amount of energy which goes into selecting all of the elements that combine to share our musings, I realized that I in fact do feel very strongly that what I do is ART.
You know, I didn't go to college to earn a degree, with subjects such as Card Creasing 101, (prerequisite class being Cardstock: Fiber to Fascinating), Photography 101(more like-10,001), and Album Management. No, I learned those through time and by playing. A LOT! lol
I've brushed up on skills through the years through a wealth of online You-niveristy courses, interacted with fellow artists at annual conventions, and my subscriptions to various printed resources are (prohibited from meeting the garbage can) all stored up for easy access. Debated with confidence the pros and cons of certain styles, compared fussy cut images to those manufactured with the aid of a machine, and yes, I've been openly critical of both my own paper backed projects and those of my peers.

And yet, when I entered these beautiful, framed scrapbook pages highlighting the memorable occasion of our second daughter's birth, and that fun greeting card above, which says little but expresses so much of my impression of a life changing event, to a local juried art show this spring, I was informed that my submissions did not qualify as Art and are instead to be categorized as Crafts.
Say What?! (imagine coffee spraying from my astounded pursed lips)

So what are your thoughts, dear reader? Does an Artist's Trading Card created with talent and tiny found objects deserve any less consideration than an 8x10 canvas splattered in no apparent pattern by various colors of paint? Can you think of pieces you've seen hanging in museums and thought to yourself, huh, I could totally do that! Seen any of the beautiful reclaimed art pieces and wanted to dig in your own burn bin for well distressed compressed fiber blocks (i.e. fence posts)? Well, you may be an artist!
Thanks for taking the time to ponder with me as we head into the fireworks of Fourth of July. Let the oohs and ahhs around you and in your heart inspire some fantastic works of art for this month's sharing... Watch for my next EmbellishKits.com summer scrapbooking kit review and Tutorial video coming soon, and Stay crafty!

Don't Retire Too Soon

I was asked to create three retirement cards for one of my associates on our Preschool board, and thank goodness I remembered to make them before getting carried away to vacation land at the end of the month! Working in a large card format is new for me, and I didn't realize that the ones they sell in the store are usually a bit smaller than the 8 1/2x 11 size paper folded in half sized cards that I made. Good news is, I got to practice making my own envelopes using my Martha Stewart Score Board! I still seem to be lacking a basic awareness of math when it comes to using that haha.
My Heidi Swapp die cut book and other bits and pieces of punched shapes, flowers, bling, and sentiment stickers give these cards a lot of dimension. I even repurposed the cover of the book to include a repeated image of my larger die cut within that wood grain frame. Oh, and that frame was made from a wood flooring advertisement! I hope there is plenty of room to write inside, and that the recipients enjoy their retirement wishes enclosed, each card is unique and hopefully the purchaser will be able to match them up to the personalities. I gave her a terrific price because I was so flattered that she ordered through me. Now, hopefully someone will deliver them at our next meeting, which I won't be attending due to my CRUISE (cue wicked laugh).
Don't forget, I plan to review each day in detail, as well as give tips and pointers about preparing for a cropping cruise, so be sure to click subscribe and my posts will arrive in your email as they appear. Thanks for stopping by- challenge yourself to use some garbage to make something pretty today!

L O V E

Love is in the air, and lately I've been thinking of, well, things I love! Specifically, "things" I feel like I need. Things, that aren't really things at all; like my family, cuddles and snuggles, creative time and space, good nutritious food, healthy communication... all the important stuff that gets me through life in as effervescent state as is possible. But "the greatest of these... is Love."

It's all I really need.
 

Everyone knows that Valentine's is the perfect occasion for getting a loved one a little something, like chocolate, or perhaps a beautiful card, maybe dinner out at a fancy restaurant, or my dream: A DIAMOND :-o
However, there are a few people out there who look at this special day more as a marketing gimmick than as an opportunity to make it magical. Those kind of people believe in spoiling everyday, not waiting for holiday occasions, and I'm lucky enough to live with a guy like that.

My sweetie has always been great at making dreams come true. He is usually willing to pick me up a box of chocolate - it fuels my creativity- when he's at the store. He loves to spend an hour or more gazing into my eyes as we dine on an exquisitely prepared entrée while dining out. However! He is completely against the purchase of diamonds because of the hardship their extraction places on miners in impoverished countries. What a Bummer for me!

Enter... my new favorite website to wish list on! The considerate folks at BrilliantEarth.com offer Beyond Conflict Free diamonds, meaning, not only are they considered conflict free, mined ethically and with respect for people, but for the environment as well! According to their website, they even track their diamonds from the source to the store, ensuring they arrive without being entangled in the corruptive practices that can profit from these valuable stones. Brilliant Earth even goes so far as to incorporate recycled and reclaimed gold, silver, and platinum. Wow, I think that's an awesome way to create beauty out of what someone else can't use anymore.

Hmmm... maybe I'll just casually place honey's name on their mailing list...

Here's how I created my Valentine's layout:

 I find it easiest to mix and match patterns and colors when I'm using papers that are all from the same collection. I'm in LOVE with the SEI Alpine wood grain patterns and color tones, so I knew that a few of these tones and wooden textures would form the neutral base of my page. I had this idea of highlighting the "O" and using a heart shape instead. I found a cute double heart on the cut apart sheet, which gave me some more ideas about the colors and embellishment choices to come.

  I also envisioned polaroid style frames around my new Posterboard alphabet stamps by Close To My Heart. Stamped in Chocolate ink on this cream and red grid two or three times to get that dark solid outline, and then shifted the stamp slightly without re-inking to achieve the shadow effect. Then I used my square punch to create identical openings in three brown, kraft flocked rectangles.

I ended up with a lot of these little strips of paper and thought it would be cute to staple them all together and do ... something with them! My staples didn't quite work the way I envisioned, though, and I'd love for you to comment with a use for my little whatever it could be.

To highlight my heart shape even more I framed it in red gingham, and backed it with a square of red. There was a line border pattern going around the red square, and only one line of the box shows... and that is just fine to me! I fussy cut with my exact-o knife around the outside of the heart shape and popped up the outside border with two sizes of dimensional adhesive; thin at the top and bottom, and thicker pop-dots on the sides. I thought it would look more dimensional that it did, so maybe if you try this yourself, either leave off the thin top and bottom dots, or double up the side pops.

Once my polaroid style frames were adhered atop stamped-letter-topped grids, I considered how I would dress them up. Some of my ideas included tying twine around the edge or bottoms, or adding enamel dots or brads, but in the end I added some red chipboard arrows on top of a sticker that I cut into three edge pieces and stuck to the left of each letter. From what was left in the middle of the sticker, I punched two hearts and placed them at the bottom right of my heart's polaroid.

For contrast to all the warm colors, I added some silver Mr. Huey's ink to the background, and then layered silver ribbon, dots, and hearts stickers to each of  my framed groupings. A double dose of hand cut hearts and a peach woodgrain in between put the focus on "L O V E," and left me a little room for my handwritten title add on, "it's all I need."

It's true. Despite all the things I want (chocolate, more washi tape, and yes, Diamonds) and feel I need; time with friends, being surrounded by family, having a creative escape daily, it all boils down to the fact that without Love, I'd be lost.


Check out the upcoming March edition of Die Cut Crazy to see even more fun ways to use the heart shape, Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy a Happy Valentine's!

I love you, Law!

Die Cut Crazy Magazine Holiday Blog Hop!

 

Welcome to the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Holiday Blog Hop. The designers have made some wonderful holiday projects to inspire your own holiday crafting with your die cuts. If you just joined our hop, be sure and go back to the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Blog to learn how you can enter to win a prize from Die Cut Crazy Magazine when following the hop from designer to designer.  

 

The holiday project I am sharing today will inspire you to create a multitude of "say goodbye to fall" projects within a small budget. Can you say $10 or less!?

Often times craft stores will offer huge discounts on the previous season's supplies. I shopped my local Michael's with a 40% off coupon and was able to pick up 48 coordinating fall die-cuts in a large bracket shape, conveniently  bound up in a book that I can thumb through, looking for just the right pattern. As soon as I saw this leaf printed page, I tore it out and threw it onto a large card base. The die cut happened to land half off the page and I thought, hmmm... I like that! A few splashes of Mr. Huey's ink in Gold added interest to the otherwise plain background. Then I stamped the acorn onto a sticker which I fussy-cut, added a couple bling brads, and voila!

I'm not into waste, so I had to find  home for the strip of leaves I had cut off. I wanted another die cut that was more neutral toned, and found it in this barely brown, burgundy rimmed piece. Too lazy to cut the end off my card, my eyes searched my cluttered desk, looking for a way to fill in that gap. Ribbon? no. More ink? no.
Cute little doggy die cut that reminds me of the one my best friend's son once owned? Yes! A scene quickly built itself on the card with the addition of a die cut felt border, some whimsical flower and animal stickers,  and the finishing touch of a water colored background.

My little doggy looks as if he's speaking! Roughly translated, "Bone, fire hydrant, bow," means, "Let's Play!" 

If you've watched my latest videos, you'll understand, I've got CK on the brain! Every year my bestie and I attend a scrapbooking convention in Bellevue, WA, and as of today it is officially only ONE WEEK AWAY! This card will be a perfect lead-in to our weekend of creativity together. I love knowing that thinking of how much her son loved that dog will bring a smile to her face; a boy and his dog can be the best of friends, and she is certainly mine!

 Well when I was looking around at my cluttered desk, I noticed these coasters collected from restaurant on a recent road trip. Remember these coasters from when you were little? My grandmother was a waitress for over 20 years, and growing up, nearly every Saturday morning my grandfather would take me to breakfast where she worked. I always thought it was so neat to be able to color and personalize my own coaster while he told me tales of his youth. The gold spray was still out, so I experimented with a little of that while I reminisced.
Once I realized the gold border matched my die cuts, another card was quickly crafted! And yes, I did continue to shop from my scrap laying about  :-)  My young male co-worker was recently promoted and will be leaving our office. Despite the explosion of multi-colored blings and enamel dots, this card is still masculine enough to bid him good luck in his new position.

For these cards, I used the book of die-cuts pictured above and an acorn block stamp which I purchased at Michael's, Mr. Huey's Spray Ink in Gold, My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots, my Red Duck transparent adhesive roller, my daughter's Crayola watercolor set, bling and pearls by Queen and Co., as well as some very old stickers, die cuts, and cardstock from my stash. On this last card, the This Happened banner, corrugated arrow, and Congratulations stamp are all from Close To My Heart.

With my coupon, all of my supplies actually came to a whopping 5.49 at checkout, and I still have about 45 more die cuts to go towards my "say goodbye to fall" projects. You may even see a few of them in this month's edition of Die Cut Crazy Magazine!

 

Thanks for stopping by my post in the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Holiday Blog Hop! I hope my projects inspire you to create your own inexpensive holiday projects, and maybe even clean a little creative clutter off your desk.
 

In conjunction with this Hop, I am also celebrating the awesomeness of having TEN+ subscribers to my YouTube Channel! So, if you comment on any of my videos or blog posts from within the month of October 2013, including todays video and post as well,  I will put your name in a drawing for the first card I featured here today :-) You can enter by commenting as many times as you wish, and I'll draw the winning commenter at the conclusion of the Creating Keepsakes Convention, Saturday, November 9th at 6:00 Pacific Standard Time. Good Luck!

 

Next up in the hop is  Allie .  Go see the amazing project she has prepared for you to enjoy!

 

If you just joined the hop, here is a list of designers so you don't miss any

  

You Are Here --->Anna http://craftwithanna.blogspot.com

 

Allie http://mycardparty.com

Martina http://cardtreasures.wordpress.com

 

Debbie  http://www.scrapmequickdesigns.com/

 

Sandee  http://inthehillsofnorthcarolina.blogspot.com 

 

You can find all sorts of incredible inspiration at the Die Cut Crazy Magazine  site!

 

 

 

 

 

Finishing Touches

How do you make use of the beautiful paper getting
"lost" between pages in your albums? I'm talking about the backsides of those gorgeous, eye catching designer papers we love to use.
In this example, I covered the brad tines that poked through from my previous post's layout with a few of my many washi tapes in different patterns and widths. This is something I often do; since I have a lot of tape, and I tend to pull pages in and out of the protecting sleeves more times than I maybe ought to. The tape is great for covering seams, too, since I usually cut the majority of background papers out as well. I'm such a paper hoarder!
After I laid my strips of tape down, my eye happened to fall on the stack of dollar bin embellishments I've been whittling down. I realized, I can use these Right Now! and with a few peels off their protective backings, a new page layout was in its early stages of development.
One of the main "problems" with using the backside of an already made layout is that, without proper planning i.e. almost every page I make, you are left with a page that NEEDS to have a consequential set of pictures on it in your album. If you are scrapping a series of photos, this usually will work out pretty well, you just put the next set of pictures down and boom, you're on to the next page! On the other hand, if you scrap -and print photos- out of order like I do, then often times that plank page will sit, basically forgotten, until the next time your album is looked through. With this in mind, I added a simple title that I figured could end up to be applicable to any photos of my girls that might end up being put in place at a future date.

Am I worried that the page will never be completed? NO! because, a)I used the embellishments I wanted to in a design that I'm happy with, and now I can buy more, b) I can always use the page for jounalling if I never find or print photos that "go" here, and c)whocares! Another page is completed and it looks like I had fun making it. Which I did!

Catch up time!

Whew! I feel like I've been riding a roller coaster of creativity the last few days and I'm excited to tell you about what's been keeping me all charged up!

I noticed a few weeks ago that the new Gig Harbor Michaels did not have any papercrafting classes on their August or September calendar...what?! How is that possible, with Toadilly Scrappin closed and the closest class venues located in Tacoma and Port Orchard? I inquired at the register, and discovered there was no teacher. I immediately set bout to fulfill my dream of getting paid to teach and started the application process. I'm proud to say that I am now a certified PaperEd teacher at Michaels! You can see here the Merry Card Tricks class samples I made for my first day at work last Saturday.  My first class will be taught on October 6th from 4-6:00 pm. We'll be making a scrapbook page using Michael's PaperEd design principles- its Scrapbooking 101! Should be a lot of fun! You can sign up here.

Best part of getting the job, besides the 25% employee discount, was popping back into the store Saturday night, heading straight into the classroom, and using the supplies I found in the cupboard to create a card in under 15 minutes. Of course I followed that creative spurt with a little retail cool-down hehe.

 

What with all the online training, interviewing and sample making that was going on, I wasn't getting any ME time in, but yesterday I was able to create two more samples for classes, a layout to add to my album, as well as put together a card that my friend Joanne had die cut for me using the Cricut Craft Room program and our exclusive Close To My Heart Artbooking cartridge... I love the way everything turned out.

Now its Monday again and I have a whole new week of creativity ahead of me... thanks for joining me and let me know if you have any questions!

Just Be Yourself

Isn't part of the fun of having children, that you can identify yourself in their features and actions!? I love seeing my little mini-me strike a pose, whether she looks like me ( right hand picture) or Ray (squinty eye on the left side). However she looks, she's a doll in my opinion!